Overview
- Nichols, 64, was put to death by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville and was pronounced dead at 10:39 a.m. Thursday.
- The U.S. Supreme Court declined to halt the execution, and Tennessee’s Supreme Court rejected a last-day request for a stay.
- He declined to choose an execution method, triggering lethal injection by default under the state’s single-drug pentobarbital protocol.
- Pulley’s relatives said they were relieved after a 37-year wait, and Nichols’ final words included an apology and the statement, “I’m ready to go home.”
- Legal challenges to the revised protocol continue, with a judge granting access to records from recent executions that the state intends to appeal and a trial set for April.